megaproduce

Here's the cucumbers, yellow squash, and zuchinni I picked just this morning. The cuke I have in my hand is really too big. If you don't pick twice a day they grow into monsters overnight.

wasabi

The other day I was in Tahlequah around noon so I called Dorothy to see if she wanted to eat lunch with me. We went to the East Buffet for Chinese food. They serve California rolls there and I love to eat them with wasabi, don't you? I always dip a forkfull of the roll into the wasabi and get small tentative amounts and then gradually increase the potent green condiment building toward my wasabi threshold. Wasabi threshold? Yeah, that's the line that when crossed results in a sinus blowout. Too much wasabi at one time gives me the sensation that the top of my head just blew off and a roto-rooter flashed through my nasal passages. It takes a moment to recover and then I start moving toward that threshold again. Why do I do that?

look ma! no training wheels!

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when it rains it pours

The weather in Oklahoma has always been unpredictable but it's becoming more so as the years go by. Last year at this time I was watering the garden every few days. Now, it rains so often I haven't had to water once. And, because of the rain it's hard to keep up with the weeds. While it's raining I'm inside reading a book, but the weeds are busy with their plot to take over the garden. We pick vegetables every day. We're producing far more than we can consume, a fact that our neighbors and family members appreciate since they are the beneficiaries of our surplus.

Last week a lightning strike nearby took out my computer modem and the electronic control on Dorothy's stove. I replaced the modem and control myself. I can't do without my computer and Dorothy can't do without her oven. It was an expensive proposition. A limb blew off a huge tree and onto our roof. I'm waiting for the rain to ease up a bit and my neighbor will help me get it off of the house.

Dorothy entered a baking contest where she works and out of about twenty entries she won 2nd place with her "That's Incredible" cake. It's hard to believe she was beaten by a plain old apple pie. It must have been a phenomenal pie since Dorothy's cake had a silky smooth texture of chocolate and marshmallows and nuts plus it was coated with a sinful ganache.

garden

Last night I cooked green beans and new potatoes fresh from the garden. We also had a fresh cucumber. The day before I made some cole slaw from a head of cabbage I harvested. This morning I told Dorothy that gardening is like having a baby. Now, I know what my female readers are thinking (just like Dorothy), how can a man possibly know what childbirth is like? Well, here's my explanation: Every spring I forget about all the pain, sweat, and hard work that gardening requires, and I can't wait to get to the earth and start digging. But, now that June has arrived and with it rising temperatures and humidity and wildly growing weeds, I think why did I start this again? See what I mean?

back at it

I've been trying to post to this blog for days and have been unable to open the page where I can create a post. I'm using the local library computer and it's working fine so I guess I have some diagnostic work to do on my own computer when I get home.

I've had a tooth ache for days now, and that on top of a strained back muscle I got from lifting my one year old grand daughter. The back problem is slowly getting better and the tooth problem was taken care of last night at the dentist's office. I called to make an appointment last Thursday but couldn't get in until yesterday afternoon. So I nursed the pain over the last week with aspirin, salt water rinses, peroxide rinses, tea tree oil rinses and a tooth ache remedy I bought at Wal-mart. The dentist informed me that he didn't think a crown would endure on that tooth and the best thing to do would be to extract it. I told him that, because of past painful experiences with extractions, ( an Army dentist had to break a tooth to remove it, and a few years later a civilian dentist spent much effort and time pulling a tooth) I was more afraid of an extraction than a root canal. Both times were quite painful. My dentist offered to refer me to an oral surgeon who would be able to sedate me for the procedure. I told him that if he had the confidence he could do it then just have at it. It came right out! No pain and no discomfort. Twenty minutes after leaving the dentist office I was eating Chinese food with Dorothy. For me, this was a miracle; a blessing from God, for which I am thankful.

.....................

Whenever I baby sit the grand kids, I usually have to change a diaper. Recently I had a double whammy. Yes, I had to change two diapers in one day. The contents of the first one was a small solid brick. If I had a few thousand of them I could have built a nice little adobe house. The second diaper was full of a vile smelling mess. Usually I have to hold the baby down to keep her from squirming around on the bed and spreading the stuff all over, but this time I was gagging and vocalising so much she just laid there wide eyed, stunned at the behavior of her grandpa. "What's happened to Pops?" She must have been thinking. And "I'll be glad when Nana gets home". How could such a little dollop of cherubic rotundity emit that odor? It was a true test of love.

hunter dives

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